Thursday, November 20, 2014

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Despite holding a 2-0 lead through much of the game, the
Lehigh Valley Phantoms eventually needed a shootout on Wednesday to beat the Hershey Bears,
3-2, in East Division play.

Blair Jones was the lone Phantom -- and player, for that matter --
to score in the shootout, in his first game in the American Hockey League since being
sent back to Allentown in place of Scott Laughton earlier in the
week. Jones also added an assist on the game’s first goal, setting Andrew Gordon up with a one-timer in front of the net 3:21 into
the first period.

“It felt so good to see the puck go into the net,” Jones said.
“I’ve done it before in the past. I’m not entirely surprised,
but I’m happy to help the team.”

Jones was penciled into Laughton’s previous role on the first
line, and handled the adjustment well, according to head coach Terry
Murray.

“He hasn’t played in a while,” Murray said. "In the NHL, you
can do all the skating and all the practicing you want, but it cannot
replace playing the game. He had a big play on the first goal, and
played a significant amount of minutes. I thought he handled it
pretty well.”

“He’s a lot different than Laughton on our line but at the
same time, he’s on that offensive mindset,” Gordon
added. The biggest adjustment was playing with a right-handed guy vs.
a left-handed guy.”

The Phantoms (7-6-1) raced out to a 2-0 lead within the game’s
first seven minutes after a Brandon Manning strike from the blue line
for his fourth of the season, and dominated possession in the first
stanza, finishing with a 20-9 advantage in shots. A Dane Byers tally
on the power play with under three minutes in the second period cut
their lead in half, and Kris Newbury’s goal 3 1/2 minutes into the third
tied the game against his former club.

An old cliché says that the two-goal lead is the hardest to
defend in hockey. The Phantoms became the latest example, and
felt the game could have ended much sooner than 67-plus minutes.

“When you’re up 2-0, you play the way you played in the first
period, and just want to end that game in regulation,” Murray said.
“We’ve got a veteran team playing against us, we know they’re
going to push, we know they’re going to keep coming.”

Conservative play throughout the third period led to overtime, and
a subsequent move from 4-on-4 action to the open ice available with 3-on-3. Both teams had played in that situatio just once this season, and 2-on-1 scoring rushes
dominated on both sides of the ice.

“It was an exciting look at what overtime may look like in the
NHL someday,” Murray said. “If they’d like to see the video,
I’d be happy to send it to them. To me, that would be a selling
point.”

The Phantoms were also granted a 4-on-3 power-play opportunity in
the overtime period, but failed to capitalize. That was part of an
0-for-5 night on the man-advantage, against a penalty kill unit that
entered the game with the league’s fifth-best kill (at 88.1
percent). The Phantoms’ power play, which had been among the
league’s best earlier in the season, fell to 13th
in the league in clicking at only 17.1 percent.

Rob Zepp made 27 saves between the pipes, improving his record to
7-3-1 this season. Philipp Grubauer finished with 38 saves in
regulation and overtime for the 8-6-1 Bears.

With the Phantoms facing back-to-back action against Worcester and
St. John’s on Friday and Saturday, expect Zepp to split playing
time with rookie Anthony Stolarz, who has been idle since allowing
four goals in a Nov. 5 loss to the Sharks. Murray did not say which
game Stolarz would play, but did emphasize the need to play him more.

“Stolarz is a young guy who needs to play -- he can’t sit on
the shelf for three weeks,” Murray said. “He’s gotta be playing
on a fairly regular basis. As a result of that, my decision will be
to play him in one of these two games coming up.”

It may not have been the prettiest win for the Phantoms, but they
still get the two points, which matters most. They now sit three
points behind the Bears, and six points behind the first-place
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Notes: Manning’s goal was his third-consecutive game with a
goal. … Each game at PPL Center has been won in either the third
period or overtime. … The Phantoms improved to 3-1 this season in games
that go to overtime or a shootout. … Jones hadn’t played since
Oct. 25, in a Flyers game against the Detroit Red Wings … Wednesday’s shootout
was the first all season for the Phantoms. … Brett Hextall returned
to the lineup after missing 10 games, recording one shot on goal.